CHAPTER VII. 



In Indian Territory A Frontier Fiddler Life in a Dugout 

 Wild Turkeys, Wildcats, and other Wild Things Surviv- 

 ing a Blizzard An Indian Dance An Embarrassed Pro- 

 fessor Successful Hunting The Extinction of the Wild 

 Turkey. 



the approach of the next Christmas va- 

 cation, Dyche arranged to make a collec- 

 tion of the noblest game-bird in the 

 world, the American wild turkey. With 

 Professor Robinson, a veteran quail and rabbit hunter, 

 he started for the Indian Territory, and a raw Decem- 

 ber day found the two at Caldwell, Kansas, wrestling 

 with a mob of hackmen and omnibus drivers. This 

 was the terminus of the railroad leading to the land 

 of the Indians. 



Engaging a light wagon, drawn by a stout pair of 

 " buckskin" ponies, they reached Pond Creek just at 

 dusk on the following day. A " dance" was in pro- 

 gress, and had been going on for the last twenty-four 

 hours. A tall Arkansan, called " Short" on account 

 of his size, was sawing away industriously at a fiddle, 

 producing sounds which, by a good stretch of a vivid 

 imagination, might be called music. The vigour 

 of the dancers was evidence that his well-meant 

 efforts were fully appreciated by the congregated 

 cowboys and their partners. It was the event of the 



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